President Nguyen Xuan Phuc presents the Labour Orders to students. (Photo: VNA)

This year, the Ministry of Education and Training sent seven delegations with 38 students to International Olympiads. As a result, all of them won prizes, including 13 golds, 12 silvers, eight bronzes and five consolation prizes.

Vietnam retained its position among 10 best-performing countries in these competitions. The country also has seven international sci-tech projects this year and two of them won special prizes awarded by sci-tech organisations and businesses.

During the 2017-2021 period, Vietnam won 57 gold medals, over doubling the figure during 2012-2016.

Speaking at the event, President Phuc affirmed that the Vietnamese Party and State always consider education a top policy and prioritise resources to educational development.

He asked the Government, ministries, agencies and localities to continue fine-tuning mechanisms and policies and take specific actions to discover and nurture talents, motivating young and outstanding citizens to devote to the nation.

The President wished that lecturers would step up innovation in education and scientific research and set bright examples for students to follow, and urged students to improve ethics and equip themselves with necessary skills to become outstanding, responsible and global citizens, contributing to national development.

According to the State leader, Vietnam's economic growth model must gradually shift from reliance on ordinary investment and labour to innovation and high labour productivity.

Technological advances like Internet-of-Things, artificial intelligence (AI), big data, smart robotics, 3D printing, mobile supercomputer and many others are bringing along both opportunities and challenges. Therefore, young generations must catch up with new trends to help Vietnam narrow the development gap with developed nations, he said./. VNA